The MongolZ fend off nqz-powered paiN to reach PGL Cluj-Napoca playoffs

bLitz's men put up a flawless nine-round streak on Mirage to close out a hard-fought series.

The MongolZ have locked in a BT Arena berth at PGL Cluj-Napoca after squeezing past paiN in an intense three-map series.

The Mongolian team struggled to close out when ahead, letting slip 8-3 and 12-8 leads on Inferno and 10-6 and 12-10 leads on Dust2, but showed tenacity by recovering from a 4-8 deficit on the Mirage decider thanks to a 2.71-rated CT showing from Azbayar "⁠Senzu⁠" Munkhbold.

The MongolZ reach third consecutive Big Event playoffs

The 3-0 run through the Swiss group stage, where The MongolZ also beat Complexity and Wildcard, makes PGL Cluj-Napoca the third straight Big Event where the Mongolian team has reached the arena after the Perfect World Shanghai Major and IEM Katowice.

Senzu had a dismal tournament in Poland while recovering from a hand injury, but has been back to his best in Romania and stepped up massively to get The MongolZ over the line.

He tallied a 14-2 K-D, 148.2 ADR, and 2.71 rating in a nine-round CT comeback on the Mirage decider and remained consistent throughout the series (1.28 rating), but was repeatedly picked early by Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares on Dust2 and his efforts almost weren't enough to overcome a blistering showing from paiN's sniper.

nqz is nearly MongolZ's maker, again

paiN got the better of The MongolZ the last time the teams faced off in the lower bracket of IEM Cologne's group stage, where excellence from nqz helped the Brazilian side complete a reverse sweep (1.55 and 1.46 map ratings).

The 20-year-old was in sublime form again to start the rematch in Romania, but the rest of his team started cold.

Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren was unrelenting and carved through paiN's defenses for an 8-4 lead at halftime, but heroics from nqz — including a near 1v4 ace clutch and quad-kill to recover a 2v4 — allowed paiN to push the map to overtime before The MongolZ stabilized and closed out their pick.

nqz continued to terrorize The MongolZ on Dust2, but his early efforts were wasted as The MongolZ repeatedly recovered from disadvantages and 4v5 scenarios in the late round.

There was visible frustration setting in for Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt mid-way through the first half, one that very well should have been a blowout for paiN but ended up 7-5 in the favor of The MongolZ.

nqz repeatedly found openings on Senzu to help paiN recover in the second half, but sloppy late rounds and a few multi-kills from Senzu and Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch allowed The MongolZ to hit map point first. biguzera came alive when it mattered most, however, driving his team to overtime and scoring back-to-back quad kills to force a Mirage decider.

Those situations are ones that top teams are unlikely to let slip, something which should serve as a warning sign for both paiN and The MongolZ.

biguzera's side will lament the number of costly mistakes made throughout the series but can pride themselves on their continued tenacity, recovering from deficits again like they did Falcons.

Date	Matches
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
17/02/2025	paiN 18:35 Virtus.pro	Match

The Mongolian team had the opportunity to pull back many of those situations today and have Senzu and bLitz to thank for the Mirage recovery, but have a lot of clean-up work to do if they want to live up to their billing as one of the tournament favorites.